This invention relates to a device for seating a tubeless tire on its wheel rim and more particularly to an improved device having a resilient inflatable, tubular member which is adapted to form a fluid-tight seal between a tire bead and its adjacent wheel rim flange in a manner which permits the tire to seat on its rim in response to introduction of air under pressure into the tire.
Heretofore in the art to which my invention relates, various devices have been proposed for seating tubeless tires on the rims of vehicles such as trucks, automobiles and the like. Such prior art devices have included a flat, belt-type bead seater which is wrapped around the tread of a tire and then is inflated to force the tire beads against their wheel rim flanges. A device of this type is inefficient and difficult to use due to the fact that air-tight seals are not always formed between the tire beads and their adjacent wheel rim flanges. Also, ring-like tubular members having inwardly directed discharge openings have been employed to seat tubeless tires on their rims. Such tubular members are placed above the annular gap between the bead of a tire and the ledge portion of the wheel rim flange adjacent thereto and air under pressure is discharged from the discharge openings into the annular gap to provide sufficient air for the tire to be seated on its rim. Excessive noise is thus created by this discharge of air under pressure. Such discharge of air also blows loose particles of dirt and grit into the surrounding atmosphere, thus creating unsafe conditions. Accordingly, safety glasses are needed to prevent injury to the user. Furthermore, such ring-like members must be firmly held to prevent them from being propelled toward the operator and thus cause injury to the operator.
Flexible rubber doughnut-type bead seaters have also been employed to seat radial, bias-belted and other conventional tubeless tires on their rims. Such doughnut-type bead seaters have been unsatisfactory due to the fact that they have short lives in that they grow outwardly in diameter or stretch with age and use and thus lose their sealing ability. Also, they are easily damaged during removal from the annular gap between the bead of the tire and its adjacent wheel rim flange. That is, burrs and nicks on the wheel rim flange often cut the doughnut-type bead seater as air under pressure is introduced into the tire to force it out of the annular gap. Furthermore, such bead seaters often are caught between the annular outturned lip of the rim flange and the tire bead whereby the operator must either deflate the tire to remove the bead seater or take the chance of destroying the bead seater in attempting to dislodge the same.
Other methods employed to seat tubeless tires on their rims include spraying ether into the gap between the tire bead and the wheel rim flange in an attempt to get some of the ether inside the tire. The ether is then ignited causing a small, uncontrolled explosion which causes gas to be introduced into the tire and thus seat it on its rim. Such an uncontrolled explosion is very dangerous and subjects the person mounting the tire to injury.
Other conventional mechanical and pneumatic tubeless tire bead seaters with which I am familiar are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,005 and No. 4,019,553.